Campus Notebook: Reports Detail Items Stolen From Lawmaker, Aide

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The Capitol Police released official reports Wednesday detailing the value of items stolen in thefts at the apartments of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and the scheduler of fellow Illinois Republican Rep. Bobby Schilling.

Both break-ins occurred in the same Capitol Hill apartment complex June 6 at 6:50 a.m. and came on the heels of a rash of break-ins at House Members’ offices.

Though the reports do not identify any names or addresses, Schilling confirmed to Roll Call on Tuesday that his scheduler, Claire Repass, and Kinzinger, who live in the same building, were targets.

Both Repass and Kinzinger have roommates, and neither report specified who was doing what at the time of the break-ins. For Kinzinger, either he or his roommate were at baseball practice while the other slept; for Repass, she was either asleep or going for a run.

Ultimately, both discovered that a litany of items had been taken.

At Kinzinger’s residence, stolen goods included a Dell laptop computer and charger; a BlackBerry and charger; and an iPad. The value of all the items combined could amount to $819.

At Repass’ residence, among the taken items were a MacBook laptop computer and charger; a Sony digital camera; a BlackBerry and an iPhone charger, totaling an estimated value of $1,370.

Schilling told Roll Call that the computer belonged to Repass and contained detailed information regarding the Congressman’s official schedule in his district and in Washington.

He said the private information was erased from the computer remotely just a few hours after the theft was reported.

Though there were no eyewitnesses to the thefts and the police reports include no descriptions of suspected perpetrators, the building management has security cameras that might provide some leads. In the meantime, Capitol Police spokeswoman Lt. Kimberly Schneider would say only that an investigation was ongoing.

Senators Receive ‘Unusual Mailings’

Small-scale plastic fetuses accompanying anti-abortion letters are the latest “unusual mailing” to reach Senators in their state offices.

In an email message to the Senate community Tuesday, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said a handful of offices “in the past several days” had received “a piece of mail containing a letter and a plastic profile of a 12-week-old human fetus.”

“Examination of the letter and contents identified no threats or harmful substances,” the memo continued, adding that staffers should pay close attention to mailings from a particular return address in Atlanta.

In a separate email to Roll Call, Gainer said three such letters had been received to his knowledge and did not contain threatening messages. He added that law enforcement was not investigating the incidents and that the Senate-wide memo was just to alert the community about the trend.

The last string of suspicious mailings to nearly all Senate state and Capitol Hill offices contained powdery substances that in each case tested negative for hazardous substances.

Joint efforts by the Capitol Police, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and local law enforcement culminated in the March arrest of 39-year-old Christopher Lee Carlson at a residence in the Portland-Vancouver metro area. He is scheduled to face trial in Portland on Aug. 7.